Here’s a guy, “Tyler Durden” at ZeroHedge, who sees these discounted iPhones at Wal-Mart as a sign that Apple’s margins are going down the tubes:

And, as Reuters reports with its Friday night bombshell report,
Apple has finally thrown in the towel on pretending there is a
supply shortage and admitted there is simply not enough demand at
the given price point, by proceeding to sell the margin flagship
iPhone 5 at a third off the original price, at the bargain
basement commodity expert Wal-Mart of all places.

People believe what they want to believe. The rest of the post suggests pretty strongly that this guy thinks the iPhone’s popularity is a fad, and a waning one at that. But he’s either confused or willfully ignorant if he thinks a subsidized price drop from $190 to $127 is “a third off” the iPhone’s actual price. Unsubsidized 16 GB iPhone 5 cost $650, retail. That’s certainly not what Wal-Mart pays wholesale, but I feel pretty confident Apple’s margins are going to be just fine this quarter.